Donovan aware of Arizona challenge

Jason Scheer

12/12/2012

Billy Donovan had nothing but good things to say about Arizona on Wednesday. Read on to see what they were, why he believes Arizona is so different from last season, and more.

Not many teams have had a better start to their season than the Florida Gators, but head coach Billy Donovan admits that he will find out more about his squad when it travels to play Arizona on Saturday.

"It is our second true road game and we are playing against a very, very talented and gifted team," Donovan said. "A team that's got tremendous experience on the perimeter, a lot of very, very talented new guys, so I think you definitely find out a lot more about your team coming out of a road game and traveling across the country against a very good team."

Donovan knows that Florida has had plenty of attention in the early part of the season, but does not believe it will have any bearing on Saturday's game.

"I think it is early right now and I think because of the margin of victory in some of these games, we have gained some attention because of that," Donovan said. "I am not so sure, and I said this after several games, that we are that many points better than teams we have played against.

"I think when you see the margin of victory right now, immediately people start to give you attention based on the margin of victory and I am not so sure that has anything to do with going into this game against Arizona."

Arizona may be the toughest opponent that Florida has faced and Donovan believes that it has to do with the balance the Wildcats present.

"They are very, very talented and very, very gifted," he said. "They lost some pieces from last year from their team that came here, but I think when you look at their team with Nick Johnson, Lyons, and Solomon Hill on the perimeter, it is a very, very veteran team as with Mayes, Parrom coming off the bench.

"They have a lot of depth, they have a lot of experience, and they are an older group on the perimeter. I think from a recruiting standpoint, Tarczewski up front in the center spot has given them some very, very good minutes. Ashley, Jerrett, they have some very talented young guys that have great size and length."

Florida was able to defeat Arizona last season, but it is difficult for the Gators to take too much stock in that game because both teams are different from one year ago.

"I think probably the difference in their team from last year to this year is last year they played very, very small," Donovan said. "They were an undersized team. They are a basketball team, in my opinion like us, that can do a lot of different things."